Survival Kit in a Sardine Can Review

tiny survival kit

The Survival Kit in a Can has a lot of survival gear items packed in what looks like a sardine can. In this video, Brian from Survival on Purpose takes a look to see just what comes in the can. Watch the video below, or read the transcript.

My name is Brian and you’re watching survival on purpose.

survival kit in a can

It was Father’s Day recently my kids got me this for Father’s Day just to pretty much because they knew I went to MIT and I would make a video about it and they thought it’d be cool and so let’s take a look at it this; is pretty popular and it’s kind of a sealed up sardine can kind of deal. Let’s just see what’s in here and if anything in here works and how well it works before we take a look at this.

I got to start by saying like I think you’re not going to have everything you need in here there’s no way but if it could have some pretty useful stuff in it book so this thing’s about 10 to 12 bucks, 10 to 13 bucks so it’s not crazy expensive anyway. Now let’s take a look at it. Okay we’re gonna open it together just for the heck of it.

So open this thing up – just got a list on back of everything that’s in it kind of stuff apparently it’s got some food in it because it’s got nutrition facts; could be sardines? So let’s see what we have here.

All right so let’s see we’ve got in here first off the bat I want to watch out – might wind up with a little bit of first aid requirement there; slice yourself on that (as he opens sardine can);

Duct Tape Included in the Survival Kit in a Can

So the first thing we’ve got is some duct tape; and that’s going to be about a foot of duct tape on a little wax paper backing. So let’s see what kind of if it stuff’s any good or not – and it feels like pretty decent duct tape so we’ll give it we’ll give it an A for the duct tape.

Chicken Soup for Survival?

It has a packet of chicken bullion soup, and this is made in Canada. So it’s got the first ingredient on here is corn syrup solids which I’m not real big on but, corn syrup solid, salt, hydrolysed soy, corn wheat protein, sodium glutamate, mechanically separated cooked chicken, chicken fat blah blah blah blah blah blah blah a bunch of disodium inosinate and hydrogenated soybean oil. Probably not considered organic but it might give you some flavor to some water and it might even have a little nutrition in it.

Actually the nutrition pack says this thing has – if you look at the nutritional value of what’s in here, if you can see that (holds up nutrition info) let’s get it out, there you can see it basically it’s got a bunch of zeros on it, ten calories for the bouillon soup, two grams of carbohydrates, 720 milligrams of sodium and zero zero zero zero zero and everything else. So pretty much this. It’s salt. Just being straight.

Water Collection or Keep Items Dry

Alright so we have a little plastic bag here. Okay little Ziploc baggie for maybe water collection or whatever. Not a freezer bag, but it’s a baggie, so there’s a container of some sort reflecting water or whatever else you need.

Book of Paper Matches

A book of paper matches. Not too thrilled about that but I guess they’ll be water proof at least the first time you use them when you open up the bag. (Lights a match) And okay so they work; matches work. Book of paper matches.

Everything Gets Better With a Cup of Tea…

We have a package; one packet of tea. For making… tea.

Strong Sewing Thread

We have some sewing thread here; and very very thin thread. Lets see how tough it is, so I can break it. It’s pretty strong. Cut my fingers off here so that’s not good. So pretty strong thread. I don’t know how many feet it is, lets see if it says how many feet it is. Nine foot eight feet. Nine foot eight feet of multi-purpose cord they’re calling it.

So I’d say that’s pretty strong stuff here you probably use for fishing line, you can use it for for snares or traps, or anything you need cord for. So that’s pretty decent little cordage there rolled up pretty tight.

Single Edge Razor Blade

Got a single edge razor blade which is not going to be very much for doing any major wood work but, I’m not going to open this up because I’m prone to cut myself. But as far as for either medical uses – first aid uses, skinning an animal, if you need to skin an animal this is going to be very helpful. You can use this for skinning small animals and stuff, so I’d say that’s a good thing to have in there.

We’ve got some some brass wire and it says this… is how long the wire we got here – 3 foot 3 foot of multi-purpose wire. So I guess you use this for snares or whatever else you want so that’s it. It’s pretty good little item there I’ll give it to that one.

Double Bubble Chewing Gum for Survival?

We have a piece of chewing gum – double bubble. I guess that’s just for fun and maybe a little sugar rush out of it. Another little piece of hard candy so another little little bit of sugar which is for a little energy, that’s okay.

Essential Survival Item – A Whistle

We have a small, very small, whistle. With a star on it and [just hold your ears] okay it works! It’s kind of hard plastic so this is not going to be like, it’s going to be breaking if you crunch this. It’s going to crunch but it’ll work.

tiny survival kit

More Multi-Purpose Cord

We have some more multi-purpose cords so, I don’t know which one was which. I think the little one was fishing sewing line, this is a multi-purpose cord. So the fishing sewing line is 101 feet – on the little blue reels is 101 feet – and this is 9.8 feet of multi-purpose cord. It’s held together with a little bread tie as you can see, so that could come in handy for something too.

Navigate Your Way with a Compass

A compass, which seems to be liquid filled maybe? It’s very small, but it’s going to give you general direction. I’m looking at it now and it’s accurate. It’s pretty close to accurate I mean it’s pointing north that way and North is definitely that way. So got a little compass.

Fire Starters

Little fire starters here we’re going to check one of these out and see how well it works in just a minute.

A Pencil with a Clip on it

A little pen? A pencil I’m sorry, little pencil with a clip on it. You can clip on things so that’s pretty handy. I guess you can write leave notes or whatever for for people to follow if you’re lost.

Safety Pins

We’ve got a big safety pin, pretty good size maybe about an inch and a quarter; inch and a half, and a small safety pin one inch. So two safety pins.

More Sugar

We have a packet of sugar because you can never have too much sugar! But I think this is for the tea maybe? But anyway you’re going to get some energy out of that.

Waterproof Strike Anywhere Matches

We have some water proof, let’s see; let me get; we have four waterproof strike-anywhere matches so those are pretty good I think. We’re going to try one of those in a minute. Let’s see if it really strikes anywhere…

Sewing Needle

Pretty large sewing needle so you can see that with a large – pretty large eye, that I believe will try to see if this thread will go in there. Let’s just try it right now while we’re here. You’re getting good check on my eyes too because okay. Okay so the thread goes through the needle if you can see that? Can you see it? Hopefully you can see if the thread goes through the needle so that way it works so that will give that a go.

First Aid Meets Fire Starting with Alcohol Pads

We have two alcohol prep pads which are both for first aid and can be used as a fire starter also. I’m sure you’re aware of that. Another couple of bread ties which are kind of handy for keeping stuff together. We have a couple of survival tips for the outdoors and it’s got some signals and some first aid. It’s really really tiny writing but you can read it and tells you what to do for some first-aid stuff and shelter. It is very basic stuff. Again I would recommend anytime you see something like this read that stuff if you don’t know beforehand but you’re not gonna be able to read it beforehand if it’s sealed up in here so make sure you got those skills in your repertoire II already, but just makes a fire starter if nothing else.

A few pieces of paper to write on – writing paper, two band-aids a piece of reflective tape maybe? Or just reflective… I don’t know if it’s tape or not, lets see. Actually a piece of reflective tape! So I think you could stick that maybe on the can and use it for a signal, I think the plan is or at least the contention is you use that for signaling.

Reflective Tape for Signalling, albeit weak…

I’ll be completely honest I don’t think it’s going to work very well; I mean my experience sure yeah you can get a flash from it but I don’t know how far you can see it and if you can be able to really direct it. I would recommend if you need a signal mirror to get a really good signal mirror, even the small ones are under 10 bucks, but you can get one that’s really good, called star flasher something like that; I think it’s called star flash but in a pinch that will at least make a flash maybe get somebody’s attention.

Nails and Fish Hooks

I’ve got two nails which I’m sure most people don’t think about, but that’s really a good idea. The nails are a good idea. I kind of like them; you can just use those – that could be the thing that you really need to finish off the shelter, something like that.

Then there’s a couple of fish hooks. I’m not sure what size they are, they’re kind of small to see if it says what size they are? It’s two fish hooks.

Purify Water in the Sardine Can

In addition you have a little container here that you could use to boil water in. As silly as that sounds it’s small but you could put water in the bowl and purify it and so that’s cool. It’s already open, I’m going to keep it for survival obviously.

The Fire Starters – Do they Work?

We got a fire starter here. Let’s just see and a strike-anywhere match; let’s just see if this thing will strike anywhere and start a fire.

So this is a wax match; so probably what you’re going to do is rub the wax off of it, although that might have helped it burn longer. Oh look at that look at that start anywhere and the fire starter… actually works. Alright so now right there could be the difference between life and death literally as silly as that sounds just having a little fire starter, that little piece of fire starter right there. If things are kind of cool things are kind of wet and moist that can make a huge difference in your survival.

So what else did, or anything else we needed to check out here? The fire starter, the accomplice works; we check the fire starter, we try the matches. The band-aids, their not band-aid brand but they’re bandages. All together you know it’d definitely be better than nothing there’s no doubt about that. It might be better than some other things you could carry. This fire starter pretty great idea. Oh no fish hook! Not a good idea so okay I dumped a fish hook here, I really need to find that so I don’t step on it barefoot out here… okay, so I lost on of my fish hooks!

Final Thoughts on the Survival Kit in a Sardine Can

So that was a survival kit in a can. So what do I think about that? Well, um I was really pleasantly surprised. Again I kind of figured it would be really cheesy crappy stuff. Honestly, it looks like the stuff in here is useful.

It’s not going to be the greatest thing in the world. Obviously not perfect, you can’t have everything in here. But some, I like the fire starters, they work. Those little fire starters, they work. The candy especially is a really good idea. Everything in here seems to be more well made than I thought it would be, I’ll put it that way.

A Survival Kit is only as Good as Your Knowledge on How to Use it

Would I trust my life to this? Man I’d hate to have to, I’ll be honest with you. That’s why I try to make sure that a) I’ve got some stuff with me at all times, I’ve got my knife with me at all times, I’ve got other other things that I might need. A good metal container and other things, but honestly any kind of survival kit; any kind of gear is only as good as the knowledge and skill that you have to use it with.

So my, I guess my encouragement you would be, sure get one of these little things or a different kind of whatever. There’s you know, there’s other ones that I’m doing, I would be doing a review on soon you can try it you know. Try one keep it with you it’s not going to hurt to have those extra little items it’s just a neat little package that you can have a lot of little things you might not think about might come in handy with you.

The 3 Essential Items for Survival

But don’t make that your entire kit. Don’t make that the only thing you’ve got to fall back on. Carry a good knife with you, a good source of fire with you. A ferro rod is really my favorite thing. At least that and at least a good water container with you. Those three things, and there’s others you know; the 10 seeds a day Dave Canterbury says now that are important but at a minimum fire, knife and water. Those are your three big ones in my opinion.

So I hope that’s been helpful about $10-$12 bucks the Coghlan’s little survival kit in the tin pretty cool. In the can maybe, yeah – kit in a can and pretty neat idea. It’s sealed up so it’s going to be water resistant. It’s got fire in it, it’s got a little blade in it, you can even purify your water in it, which I think is a good idea.

You can do that in some of the pouch types so you know all together, yeah it’s useful. Is it going to be the end-all be-all? Absolutely not but it wouldn’t hurt to grab one and stick it in your pack just for emergencies.

Deciding Factor: The Candy!

Let’s just go ahead and see how the candy is, that’s going to be the deciding factor for me, because if the candy is no good, then I mean good grief why even bother? Okay, they got this candy wrapped up tighter than Dick’s hat band. It’s kinda got this hard candy with that sticky feel, that’s not a good thing, that’s not a good sign… but just for you… (eats the candy) man… I’d had to even know what’s in this candy (laughs).

So anyway, thanks for watching, as always thanks for subscribing to survival on purpose. If you haven’t done so why not? Um if you like this video give it a thumbs up below let Google know. If you’d like to support this channel you can check out my Amazon store I appreciate all your support. Once again my name is Brian you’re watching survival on purpose. Remember survival is not an accident so be prepared… See you next time!

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